10 Jun 16

The Flash: 06:55 – 07:15
Location

Sunrise: 04:45 BST again

15°C > 18°C Broken low cloud below high overcast. Light mainly E wind. Moderate visibility again

Not sure what is going on with the Great Crested Grebes at the moment. The pair at The Flash with a putative nest site upped and flew off. At the lake where they should long-ago have started sitting there still seem to be two pairs just loafing on the water. That said I recall there were 4 pairs doing the same thing last year and then suddenly they all had young

(59th visit of the year)

Notes
- I suspect the number of Canada Geese is not so variable as my counts would suggest: my numbers will not include most of the birds hiding inside the island which likely varies from day to day
- the Moorhen family on the island seen again
- no sign of the Coot juveniles

Birds noted flying over
None

Hirundines etc. seen here today
- 3 Swifts
- 6 House Martins

Warblers seen / heard around the water: numbers in brackets are singing birds
- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcap

The counts from the water
- 2 + 6 Mute Swans
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 50, exactly, Canada Geese
- 1 all white feral-goose
- 13 (12?) Mallard
- 2 (1?) Tufted Duck
- 2 Great Crested Grebes (see introduction)
- 1 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 20 + 0 Coots

The pair of Great Crested Grebes apparently bid farewell.

(Ed Wilson)

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Priorslee Lake: 07:25 – 09:25
Location

(94th visit of the year)

Notes
- the Greylag Goose was completely ignored by the Mute Swans and flew off in its own good time
- the Grey Heron flew in, dropped in water; swam to the reeds; and disappeared
- the 2 Lapwings flying high E were a bit of a surprise – failed breeders?
- the presumed same 1st year Black-headed Gull again present throughout and now looking very lethargic
- just single Swifts noted on two widely separate occasions
- 1 Green Woodpecker over again, apparently taking food in to / across the old Celestica site
- 5 Mistle Thrushes together indicates successful fledging
- a Long-tailed Tit seen flying all on its own – normally these are in gangs

And
- my first Common Blue butterfly of the year; also a Speckled Wood butterfly
- Brimstone moth on one of the lamps
- at least 4 Silver-ground Carpet moths
- a Celypha lacunana (aka Common Marble) moth around the lake (after my first of the year yesterday in Woodhouse Lane)
- also two new moths for the year: a Hedya pruniana (Plum Tortrix); and an Aphelia paleana (Timothy Tortrix)
- the usual Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies
- another Harlequin ladybird
- more Pyrochroa serraticornis (Common or Red-headed Cardinal Beetles)
- a sawfly Tenthredo livida, sometimes aptly called White-tipped Fly
- several odd and as yet unidentified flies
- first full ‘clock’ of Goat's-beard or Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon (Tragopogon sp.)

Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
- 2 Lapwings
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 6 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Jackdaws
- 13 Rooks
- 5 Starlings

Hirundines etc. approximate maxima
- 2 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 4 House Martins again

Warblers seen / heard around the lake: numbers in brackets are singing birds
- 8 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 9 (7) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warbler
- 2 (0) Common Whitethroats
- 6 (6) Reed Warblers

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 10 (9?) + 2 duckling Mallard
- 7 (5?) Tufted Duck (see notes)
- 1 Grey Heron
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens
- 30 + 4 juveniles (3 broods) Coots
- 1 Black-headed Gull

One of the Lapwings overhead – we can see signs of the wing-moult having started suggesting this is a post-breeding bird.

When the Grey Heron flew in and landed in quite deep water it was forced to swim off and looks almost goose-like.

Brimstone Moth on the lamps: a better indication of the true colour of this species – my last attempt had to be ‘flashed’ and was a bit washed out.

A Celypha lacunana (aka Common Marble) moth.

A Hedya pruniana (aka Plum Tortrix) moth.

An Aphelia paleana (aka Timothy Tortrix) moth.

 A teneral damselfly – not identifiable at this stage.

This female Common Blue Damselfly had just been caught in a web and was fighting its way out and the spider was rather hesitant at making a grab for it such was the thrashing about of the web.

All strung up.

The only thing to do was to rescue it – sorry spider!

And use the opportunity for a close-up.

Another in the series of spiders eating breakfast: looks like a Common stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa) but I have no idea about the midge sp. being consumed.

This seems to be the sawfly Tenthredo livida, sometimes aptly called White-tipped Fly.

Now here is an intriguing fly – very slim indeed. Has a superficial resemblance to Black Snipe Fly but that species is much more robust.

Right next to the previous fly was this little fellow: one of the ‘fruit flies’ of Tephritidae but I am struggling to find a match on the web. The most likely is Euleia heraclei, or Celery Fly, the larvae of which form leaf mines in umbellifers.

A spider sp. Not able to get a view of the back to help ID, but quite a different shape from most of the spiders around the lake at the moment.

This rather startling insect is ‘just’ the regular hoverfly Volucella pellucens but here a male with the red between the eyes – on female flies the eyes meet and it looks rather more benign.

A clock of Goat's-beard or Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon (Tragopogon sp.) with an unopened flower to the right – likely shut because there was no sun.

This flower has been out for some weeks but is usually in the shade: Common Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) it is a favourite food-plant of ...

The Common Blue butterfly – here a female, the male being all blue on the upper wing.

A slightly different angle.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day in ...........

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2009
Priorslee Lake
12 Swift
1 Lesser Whitethroat
Willow Warbler
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
3 Great Crested Grebes
9 Greylag Geese
5 Tufted Duck
Kestrel
22 Swift
4 Swallows
6 House Martin
5 Reed Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
2 Common Whitethroat
2 Garden Warbler
8 Blackcap
5 Chiffchaffs
2 Jays
10 Greenfinch
6 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson)